We’re coming up on Memorial Day Weekend here. The city empties out considerably on those long summer weekends.

Now that we are cabin owners, we haven’t spent a summer holiday weekend in the Cities in a long time. I actually kind of miss the empty sidewalks and restaurants, and the feeling that we were on the only ones in the entire bookstore. I miss not being stuck in traffic on Memorial Day as the entire population of the Twin Cities returns to the metro area all at once. Sad trombone noise for the poor little rich girl.

What I really want to blog about is my job, and race relations at my job. But I am still processing a lot of the things I have seen and heard and quietly noticed. This will take years. Also, I’m not sure of a respectful way to put stuff like that in a public blog. And as a white person I’m a little hesitant to comment out loud on anything having to do with race, at all, ever.

I feel like the paragraph above sounds very cryptic and like there is something horrible going on right now that should be reported. That is not the case. I’m pretty sure the county social worker would hang up on me if I called to report that there are not enough Black teachers at a school with a majority Black student population.

I am taking piano lessons next year, and I am very excited about it. In part because settling into piano lessons this fall will signify that we have made it to the end of our crazy summer of travel and moving and selling a house. But I am also excited because I haven’t had piano lessons in twenty-three years, and I am ready to take my playing to the next level. Or… back to a level that I was already at like twenty-four years ago, at least. I do play pretty regularly, and I have gained back a lot of what I had lost during the interregnum of no access to a piano, but I’ve plateaued at my current level and am ready to move forward.

I’ve wanted to take piano lessons for a while, but I was unable to commit with my eventual employment uncertain for what felt like several years. But my job is solid and I’ve finally got my chance to get back on the piano bench. So to speak.

Sadly, I have learned that employment with a public school district is often dependent on the rising or falling fortunes of the district itself and not on your job performance. So I am planning to enjoy the hell out of this one summer when I will know where I’m going and what I’m doing in the fall. You know, when I’m not totally freaking out over all the life changes.